As Iron Man director Jon Favreaugets serious about a Jersey Boys musical for his next directorial effort, he’s turning to a few acting gigs to spend the downtime. He’s already confirmed to return to his superhero franchise as Happy Hogan in Iron Man 3, as well as join Jason Bateman comedy Identity Thief, and now he’s getting into some serious dramatic territory, as Deadline reports his involvement in Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street. He’ll play a securities lawyer in the story that features the financial takedown of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). The actor/director will be joined by an eclectic cast including Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler, P.J. Byrne and fellow director Rob Reiner. Favreau has always had a fun screen presence, and at the very least maybe he’ll glean a few tips from the directing master.

In other casting news, Lee Daniels is still adding to his ever-growing ensemble of The Butler, despite a fairly disastrous response at Cannes for his latest film, The Paperboy. That cast, for the film following a White House servant, already includes Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, David Oyelowo, Alan Rickman, John Cusack, Nicole Kidman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, Alex Pettyfer, and Robin Williams.

Now Deadline adds that Liev Schreiber (Wolverine, Salt) has joined the period drama as President Lyndon B. Johnson. In another update from Variety, Shame and We Need To Talk About Kevin star Alex Manette has also filled out the cast as Richard Nixon‘s (Cusack) aide H.R. Haldeman. Although I can’t wait to see Daniels’ possible cult classic in the aforementioned Paperboy, him getting back to serious material does little to interest me, no matter how many stars get added to the list.

Production is expected to kick off soon for both films for likely 2013 releases.